It's Going Tibia Ok
by Fairytale Warrior
Summary: Alphys thought Sans might be in shock. After all, his brother had lost a leg and he was just sitting there watching TV.
1. Papyrus

_Why am I publishing this?_

* * *

 _[Papyrus]_

It'd overall just been a very dreadful day for the ever optimistic Papyrus. He'd woken up two hours earlier than usual to the sound of his brother screaming bloody murder in the room neighboring his own. He'd burst in to find Sans trapped in the thralls of the year's worst night terror thus far and had spent at least twenty minutes fighting his brother's subconscious before he recognized his sibling and calmed down. Sans had fallen asleep against him and had remained sleeping even after Papyrus had gotten up, cleaned his brother's mattress, washed the sheets, fluffed the pillow, and put him back to bed.

He noticed while preparing breakfast that his leg had been hurting but figured Sans must have landed a lucky blow during his fit and moved on. Papyrus had the higher defense between the two brothers so he really hadn't felt any sort of concern.

In fact it had fled from his mind entirely when that dumb dog ruined his first batch of spaghetti and made a horrendous mess of the kitchen. It taken Papyrus working double time to clean up and finish breakfast before Sans arrived unable to recall any of what had happened the night before. Pap had watched him carefully and tried to be subtle about it, not mentioning the event to his stressed elder, but suspected he wasn't being very convincing. Sans left for Grillbys and Papyrus had thrown out the uneaten spaghetti without much thought or hurt- he still had much to improve on after all. (He wasn't going to make his brother eat something he didn't want to eat either.)

On that point, Papyrus wasn't as sensitive as many thought him to be. He could take some good teasing and jokes made at his expense had him laughing just as hard as everyone else. But, he was wearing a little thin. It had been weeks since he'd last slept more than 2 hours a night and thinking about it now he wondered why he'd never stopped to think _that_ might be why it was so hard to maintain his usual demeanor. He'd tried taking a nap but that didn't work at all so he'd given up.

After Sans had left he'd spent a few hours cleaning the house before going out for a walk, thinking maybe his aching leg needed a bit of a stretch.

This was big mistake number 2 today.

He'd tried to go shopping but found nothing at all on his list and would have to wait until the next merchants came through to actually get proper groceries. Then he'd gone to the inn hoping to borrow some sheets only to discover all the rooms were booked and they had no spares left. Papyrus had checked on Sans at Grillbys but while walking away from the diner he'd tripped and landed on the Christmas tree set up in town, crushing some presents, lightbulbs, and getting whipped in the face by the needly branches. After receiving a stern talking to he'd tried to help fix his mistake only to be shooed away.

Deciding it best to go on a "calming nature walk" he'd left town, his gimp leg having now acquired a limp.

Papyrus'd spent the majority of the remaining length of time outside being tormented by some local kids. At first he'd thought they'd just wanted to play but then their games became dangerous and they started picking on the littlest one- Monster Kid.

He'd tried to intervene.

He'd tried to be the peacemaker.

He'd effortlessly pulled two boys out of a whirling, thrashing pile and held them up by their scruffs.

He'd begun scolding them.

He'd been kicked in the shin.

And then his shin had come _off._

Papyrus distinctly remembered the shock of pain rocketing up his thigh, biting his spine, and nesting at the back of his skull as he tumbled with a cry of alarm. There'd been a short pause as the little ones processed what they'd done but before he could try to sooth them they'd all scattered in different directions.

Now he lay in the collecting snow trying to figure out what to do about his latest predicament. Already he was too exhausted to pick himself up. His leg was throbbing and- unfortunately the disconnected tibia hadn't gone numb yet.

It was here, lying face down exhausted in the snow that he realized he was supposed to be at Undyne's place having a cooking lesson. In fact, he was supposed to have gone there about two hours ago.

A very uncharacteristic groan rumbled out of the fallen skeleton that turned into an undignified squawk as the gruesomely familiar sensation of a disintegrating limb began crawling over his dismembered appendage.

"W-wowie…" he said to no-one, looking back at his leg and watching it turn to ash, _Sans must have hit me harder than I thought this morning._

Letting his head lie flat again he looked through his memories of the day in attempt to distract himself from the discomfort and yet found very little motivation in them.

One of the coolest things, he decided, about being a skeleton was the ability to regenerate lost limbs. The fact that doing so took so much time, energy, and discomfort, however, was decidedly _much less_ cool. And to make things worse it didn't seem like Sans would be coming out to find him anytime in the next 24 hours or so. Grillby had been sure to mention to him before he'd left that tonight was going to be another one of _those_ nights for his brother. No doubt he'd be getting a call-

Had he the energy Papyrus would have smacked himself in the head, realizing that he'd forgotten his phone at home.

Then, to mark the lowest point of his day, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Sans spoke from the back of his aching skull; _who'd of thought this tibia problem today._

With that a scream of frustration and pain erupted from Papyrus, barely muffled by the snow.

* * *

 _I'll finish this tomorrow._

 _Next part: Undyne is out looking for Pap and is horrified/confused by the scream that leads her to him._


	2. Undyne

_[Undyne]_

It wasn't terribly difficult to irritate Undyne. Her personality matched her preferred biome; the one where everything was on fire. Asgore had scolded her for it in the past but no matter what things she tried the woman just couldn't change who she was.

One would think her hot personality combined with Papyrus' innocence wouldn't mix well. But together they managed to make it work out.

Usually.

Papyrus knew one sure fire way of pissing her off was being _late_ to their regular training regime and as was becoming the norm he'd been doing that quite a bit this last week or so. Today, she'd decided, was the last straw. When he showed up she vowed to denounce him as her student and slam the door in his face.

30 minutes past their appointment, she refused to go and look for him.

50 minutes past their appointment, she still refused to go and look for him.

An hour and 20 minutes past their appointment and she remained true to her word; she wouldn't look for him.

An hour and 45 minutes past their appointment, pacing around the kitchen, Undyne would absolutely _not_ go out and look for him.

…

Two hours past their appointment and she went out to look for him.

Had she been a fire user Undyne wouldn't have had any trouble plowing through the snow. Given her wrath she might as well have been, though. Trudging through the thick cover weighing her steps down, crystalized water crunching underfoot, she hardly even noticed the biting chill or the way her breath plumed out before her.

She'd scoured Snowdin searching for the brothers but the townsfolk all said the same thing; _they were here earlier but they're gone now? I wonder where_ \- before she stopped listening. Having checked their house, their garage, and both stations with no success her irritation was almost enough to make her steam. It was certainly keeping her warm.

While promising to herself that she wasn't in the least bit concerned she stumbled through the snow with her measly leather jacket shouting obscenities at everything. At last that little brat- Monster Kid or whatever his name was- had pointed her in the right direction. He'd seemed more nervous than usual and had told her to hurry and _oh boy was she gunna hurry_. Later she'd realize the child had provided a plethora of twitchy, desperate signals, shifting from foot to foot and glancing around as though he wasn't supposed to tell her anything. Unfortunately, later had to come well after Papyrus' splitting scream had cracked through the air.

Undyne clapped her jaws shut tightly, fearing that her soul would leap right out her mouth at the sound.

Papyrus was a loud guy but she'd never heard him scream in anything but irritation before.

This was different.

He was in pain.

Undyne bolted then, shooting off in the direction she'd heard his shriek as though someone had physically yanked her in that direction.

She leapt through the snow, bounding around trees, and found herself envying ungulates as she tried to imitate their gallop with the only two legs she had. Hardly as graceful as she wanted to be Undyne slipped and skidded through the brambles, popping out into a clearing where she immediately caught sight of a familiar figure strewn under a developing pile of snow. He was eerily motionless.

"Papyrus!" the shout flew from her involuntarily and she slid towards him, landing on her knees rather hard. Her hands fell across his back and she shook him as hard as she dared, "Oi, what's wrong what the hells ha-" Then emerald eyes fell across the ashes where his lower left leg should have been. Had she been human she might have turned white at the very sight of it. Bits of grey were still crumbling off the remaining stub.

Undyne knelt there watching it in stupefied silence for a time, haunted by the scent.

Then she erupted.

Scrambling she ripped off a part of her shirt and- as gently as she had ever been in her life- wrapped it around the skeleton's leg.

"Damnit, damnit, shit, damnit!" she cursed obscenely, yanking her phone out of her pocket and speed dialing Alphys, "Pick up the phone you damn dinosaur!" With her free arm she struggled to pull Papyrus up onto her shoulder. By the time she had Alphys picked up.

"H-h..he-"

"Thank god!" Undyne interrupted, "Alphys get to the brothers' house right now! And bring whatever weird science nerd stuff you use when fixing fallen monsters!"

"Wh-wh-"

She wasn't going to give her any time to stutter out a reply. "Some-" she paused to swallow a lump in her dry throat, "something's happened to Papyrus. I think he might be falling." Leaping over a log with a grunt she skittered through the snow, Papyrus unnaturally limp against her. It was so much like carrying around an extra-large puppet she could almost mistake him as one. She'd never known him to be so still before…

"U-Undyne wha-t..?!" Alphys stuttered. She could hear her scrambling around her lab anyway, bottles clinking together and papers scattering, a chair overturning.

"Just hurry! There isn't much time!" That said Undyne hung up and dialed a new number. "C'mon Sans, pick up, _pick up!_ "

He didn't.

* * *

 _Undyne's blowin' this outta proportion. – 3 - ~_

 _I should have the next bit [where I dubiously give sans a "heart" attack] up by later tonight. Trying to finish this today..._


	3. Sans

[Sans]

Thing's had been pretty rough recently. Sans was having night terrors regularly but that wasn't nearly as new as his loss of memory. The amnesia was so bad he'd never know he'd woken up the night before if it weren't for the freshly filled cracks in the walls, the scent of recently washed fabric curled around him when he woke, or the way Papyrus watched him come morning.

It was obvious to him that his brother was trying to keep it all secret. Seeing how hard Papyrus tried he couldn't help but pretend not to notice.

Yet no matter how hard either brother tried it was just so much to handle and Sans just…couldn't find the strength to combat his inner demons any longer.

He didn't mean to drink himself stupid but some nights he'd do anything if it made the pain ebb even a little. Grillby always seemed to know when enough was enough though and sooner or later Papyrus would come and pick him up. Guilt would eat through Sans the next morning and if his brother wasn't so proactive he'd offer to help clean up whatever mess he'd caused the night previous.

While Sans still wasn't terribly used to getting shitfaced he _was_ pretty used to being incredibly sleep deprived. He wasn't accustomed to being drugged, though- courtesy of one fussy bartender. So he was a little surprised to wake up well after closing, curled beneath a thick woolen blanket and lain across a booth seat.

Groaning he heaved himself up on one arm and held his head with a freehand.

"grillby…?" he searched and soon found him behind the breakfast bar counting out the day's earnings. His friend looked up at him, putting the money down and cocking his head to the side. The fire monster leaned forward on his forearms and watched his friend stumble to his feet, rubbing at the corner of his eye sockets in a familiar fashion. "did you…" Sans paused, neck and back popping as he stood, " _drug_ me?"

Grillby didn't grace him with a response but if he looked carefully enough Sans could see what might have been an eyebrow raised. It was his friend's way of saying, 'no shit, captain obvious.' The skeleton's customary smile rolled into place, a little lighter than before, when his eyes caught sight of the bottle of ketchup on the counter.

Shoving his hands into his pockets he came up to the breakfast bar and reached for the bottle but stopped a second later. Grillby watched him with suspicious intensity.

"that's just regular ketchup, isn't it?"

Grillby seemed as amused as he was satisfied when he nodded his head.

Smirking at his friend's mischief Sans pocketed his hand and shrugged, chuckling, "alright, i get it. no drinking tonight, right?" Though he phrased it as a question he knew the answer.

There was something about Grillby's expression that seemed to change but he wasn't given time to analyze it before his phone began to ring.

"heh, pap's proba-" Sans cut off the second he read what had appeared on the screen.

 _37 missed calls._

 _51 new messages._

And scrolling across the glass was a text from Undyne;

StrongFish91: _SAMNIT SANS PAPYRUSNEEDS YUO WHERE R U?!_

"sorry grillby, i gotta go," he said quckly, eyes wide and panic fluttering in his chest as he whirled around and jogged towards the door. He thought he heard his name whispered by the quiet fire monster but was too preoccupied to really focus on it. Once the door had closed behind him the tips of his phalanges typed out a reply so fast they might have gotten tangled in any other circumstance.

punny1: _where?_

It was a true testament to her concern when Undyne wasted no time giving him any crap and got right to it.

StrongFish91: _your house_

StrongFish91: _living room_

StrongFish91: _now_

It didn't matter that his house was less than five minutes away and it didn't matter that it was the middle of the night either; he took a shortcut anyway.

Appearing on the front step he strode forward and jerked the door open so hard it might as well have come right off the hinges.

"where is he?!" he demanded, not even bothering to close the door behind himself. Ignoring the way Alphys flinched upon his uncharacteristically energetic entrance he strode into the room while she moved to close the aperture. "what happened to him?"

"Sans-" Undyne stood next to the couch unfolding a blanket from god-knows-where. The white pinpricks in his eyes flickered down to the figure lain across the cushions even before she'd finished saying his name.

"pap!" Sans wasn't sure if he teleported or not to get to his brother's side with the speed he had but he also found he didn't really care- too caught up examining his face. An orange glow dusted across Papyrus' cheekbones and his eye sockets were squeezed shut. His jaw was shut tightly, mandible quivering just the slightest bit- only so much as to give away the pressure between his teeth. Small pinpricks of sweat peppered his brow that Sans wiped away with the sleeve of his hoodie. Letting a glowing hand linger on his little brother's head he turned to Undyne as she passed the blanket to Alphys.

"what happened?" he asked again.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Undyne was glaring at him, "I found him like this."

Sans didn't exert any energy trying to hide his confusion. Yes, his brother looked uncomfortable but he couldn't locate anything other than signs of illness. So he turned his attention to Alphys and found himself helping her tuck another blanket around his brother.

"what's wrong with him?" he demanded, "is he sick?"

"L-…l-looks like th-…that's pa-part of it," she said shakily, "th-the r-r-real pr-..problem is his-s l-l-l-l-leg-g." When the concern and apprehension in Sans' expression deepened, doubled with confusion, Alphys lifted the blankets covering his brother's left leg from view.

Fresh bandages had been wrapped around the end of his brother's femur, chords attached to electrodes tucked beneath the gauze. At last he noticed the monitor placed behind the couch recording his brother's magic energy. Understanding dawned across his face as he read the unnaturally high stats.

"H-h-h...his m-magic po-power has ri…risen m-mo-re than anything I've ev-ev…ever seen b-before," Alphys' voice quivered and she rung her hands out for a moment, also examining the monitor. "Thi-thi-this-s is m-more th…than f-…five times what it-it-it was o-only a few h..hours a-ag-ago…"

The relief that swept through Sans took his knees to the floor. He pressed his head against the side of the couch and took a deep, though unnecessary breath.

"Thank god," he mumbled.

"What?!" Undyne at last seemed to blow up, "you idio-!" Alphys was quick to shush her but it was too late. Papyrus had always been a very light sleeper, despite what his snores might suggest.

A groan summoned from his throat, body shifting, and a slow chest-full of air was drawn out of the younger skeleton brother. Orange slivers of light became exposed when Papyrus weakly pried his eyes open. While Undyne muttered a curse under her breath and stood back Sans regained his feet so his brother wouldn't have to turn his head to find him.

"S…an…-"

"i'm right here, pap," he assured him, glowing hand brushing over his brow to wipe the cumulating sweat away again.

"Are…you," he blinked drowsily, his voice at a rare pitch of quiet, "…ok…?" Sans was momentarily caught off guard, tongue feeling as though it had been tied in knots. Concern played across his brother's brow and a long gangly arm slid out from under the blankets, trying to reach for him.

"wo _ah_!" Sans grabbed it quickly and immediately set it back, "buddy, you need to relax, ok? Something happened to your leg and it hasn't finished regenerating yet-"

"It will…" his brother interrupted then paused to take a deep comfortable breath. The addition of extra oxygen- Sans had learned- helped speed up the replication of existing cells that would ultimately restore his leg. "…be ok…brother."

Sans wondered if Papyrus thought he might be having another nightmare and heaved the thought aside, distressed by it. He didn't want to think Pap had become programmed to put his brother's needs over his own. And yet, losing a leg wouldn't normally make either of them this exhausted. Sans couldn't help but feel a new worry for his brother begin to brew. Had he been sleeping enough? Had he been eating enough? Had he been taking enough breaks?

 **Was he being** ** _bullied-_**

"you bet it will, pappy," he soothed, drawing the blankets over him as he relaxed, "get some rest, ok? i'll be here when you wake up. maybe even undyne will cook you something too." Sans flashed a blue eye at the woman waiting beside the door and glaring at him from there. Papyrus hummed something, orange eyes already closed, and it wasn't long after that he drifted back into much needed sleep.

"S-S-Sans? D-do y…you k-know what's g-...going on?" Alphys asked, her voice hushed.

"yeah," he nodded, "but i'll tell you about it later, ok? looks like undyne and I need to have a chat first."

* * *

 _In other words; Paps life is and has never been at risk. He's just been having a really **bad** day._


	4. Alphys

_[Alphys]_

Alphys thought Sans might be in shock. After all, his brother had lost a leg and he was just sitting there watching TV with Papyrus' head resting comfortably in his lap. Albeit he wasn't really focused on the program and looked more like he wanted to nod off despite having apparently slept most of the day anyway. The scent of alcohol clinging to his clothes had become much more forgivable after he'd given both girls a proper explanation.

Guilt hung in the air so thickly it could be cut with a butter knife.

Even so, though, the three tried to move forward. Despite Sans' explanation neither Alphys nor Undyne wanted to leave Papyrus- still not convinced that he was as ok as his brother tried to convince them. Believing that he needed rest just as badly as his brother, Alphys had tried to reason with him. She'd explained that exposure to fermented magic alcohol for an extended period of time could cause 2nd hand drunkenness on some monsters and that Sans was still obviously very tired but he'd declined. " _you guys are really blowing this out of proportion,"_ he'd said, _"really, it's fine."_

Undyne had refused to accept his refusal and made it quite clear that neither were going anywhere.

Because she didn't want to believe that her friend might not be…as sober as he thought himself to be and because she knew it would take a borderline dangerous amount of sleep deprivation to misread the situation- especially between Sans and his brother- Alphys turned to thinking he might be in shock. The right amount of sleep deprivation against the right kind of stress could do that to the best of monsters, after all.

She watched him from the kitchen, trying her best to be subtle, and thought she was doing a pretty good job. Undyne sat beside her putting no effort into concealing her intense stare.

On the couch Sans was tucked neatly against the backrest, running gentle phalanges over his brother's skull. A pillow between his head and his brother's lap, Papyrus seemed to have calmed down exponentially. He'd sunk against the cushions in a perfectly relaxed way and if it weren't for the permanent structure of his mandible giving him a just as permanent grin she'd say he was smiling. His snores had gotten quieter- a sign that he was entering a deeper sleep according to Sans. Papyrus' brow had smoothed out too. He just looked so at peace and comfortable in comparison to his usual energy and gusto that Alphys almost couldn't help the worry.

Finally, after what felt like an hour or so, Sans sighed and turned towards observers. Exhaustion written in hooded eyes, smile almost eerie, _he_ started watching _them_ in a very clear indication that he'd known they had him and his brother in their sights from the second they'd sat down.

Sans was extremely protective of his brother, Alphys was learning.

 _Extremely_ protective.

Undyne looked like she wanted to shout something obscene at him. Alphys thought she didn't mean to be so aggressive but was just reacting to her concern. She was just an observer though, it's not like she actually knew anything…

Eventually Sans sighed, defeated, and made a quiet offer, "you can't stay in the kitchen all night. i'm not going to be using my bed and seeing that you both don't look raring to go anywhere you can use our beds." He nodded towards the stairs, "pap's room is the first door at the top of the stairs and mine is at the end of the hall. and don't worry, i may be a slob but pap washed my sheets and everything this morning so my bed is as clean as his."

"No," Undyne refused stubbornly, "no offense but you look like you're a few seconds away from passing out yourself, Sans, and someone needs to stick around to look after Papyrus."

The skeleton's expression softened with warmth, clearly appreciative of their concern, "guys, come on, we've been over this."

"You don't seriously think you're gunna convince us, do you?"

Sans just kept smiling, though Alphys saw a bead of sweat form on his temple.

"S-Sans," she'd begun sheepishly before she could think better of it. Surprised, Alphys emitted a little 'eep' and slapped her hands across her muzzle to silence herself. _Stupid, stupid, stupid! No-one wants your input, idiot!_ She told herself vigorously.

"yeah, alphys?" Sans prompted. He didn't look offended but she knew better than anyone that an expression could not hold a thousand words for a stranger.

"U-uhm," her voice was shaky and she turned to fiddling with her hands. _Get a grip already, this isn't about you,_ the venomous voice she'd become familiar with hissed. Sans and Undyne both waited patiently for her to speak. Left with no other choice she fought the words out of her mouth, "h-has th…this e-ev-ever ha…happened b-before?"

"yeah a few times," he replied.

"A-and it's been f-fine before, right?"

"mm'hm. never anything complicated."

"So yo-you're c-c-ertain Papyrus will be ok?"

"pretty certain."

"We-well, if y-you're sure-" Alphys looked to Undyne for her support. She was afraid for a moment that the fish-woman would continue to refuse and was thankful when she didn't.

Instead she sighed and folded her arms across her chest, "well if the doctor says its ok then I guess its fine." Then she was being lifted into the air and placed on the floor, her hand caught in Undyne's. "We'll use Sans' bed- it better be as clean as you say it is, punk!"

"Don't trout it," he said relaxing, "it's as clean as it's been for years, not even squidding."

Surprisingly, Undyne took his fish puns in stride.

While Alphys was sputtering about the concept of sharing a bed with her crush- who was also floundering on the inside in her own excitement- Undyne dragged them up the stairs and the brothers were left to spend the night in private, familial companionship.

Papyrus was awake the next morning and, while not quite as energetic as he might usually be, he was leagues better than the previous day. Sans- good god- had taken up the kitchen to make "pun-cakes" that actually tasted pretty good. Though Papyrus looked like he wanted to refuse them when the first plate landed in his lap. In syrup Sans had written across it; _it's going tibia okay_.

Satisfied that Papyrus was not only going to be okay but also in capable hands the two girls were able to pack up and leave.

At the end of it all, Alphys decided it really was quite cool the unique way the skeleton brothers' bodies worked.

* * *

 _I wanted to write more but I actually don't feel well at all right now so I'm cutting it short. Sorry guys._

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _Ultra-special thanks to_ MindVScape, fox tamer 113, Ollie (this is your fault I can't believe you've dragged me into this you awful human being), Streefwaterbutter, Glass The Absol, and TheDeductionist _for being 6 of 1,207 readers to have left reviews._

 _Happy holidays~_


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